Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go.

But no matter, the road is life. Jack Kerouac If you dont get lost, theres a chance you may never be found. Anonymous Know yourself. Dont accept your dogs admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. Ann Landers Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes. Hugh Prather If you resist reading what you disagree with, how will you ever acquire deeper insights into what you believe? The things most worth reading are precisely those that challenge our convictions. Anonymous To travel alone is to find the answers youve been seeking and discover the questions to all your unfounded thoughts. quit work, take a leave of absence from work or school, and buy that one-way ticket to nowhere. I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world. Mary Anne Radmacher Hershey There are no uninteresting destinations, only incurious travelers. theres nothing wrong about exploring a place that will never be a hot new destination.

I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine. ~Caskie Stinnett

If youre not living on the edge, youre taking up too much space. ~ Unknown The life you have led doesnt need to be the only life you have. ~ Anna Quindlen We may run, walk, stumble, drive, or fly, but let us never lost sight of the reason for the journey, or miss a chance to see a rainbow on the way. Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip around the Sun.

Embrace the detours. Kevin Charbonneau A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking. -- Earl Wilson Better to ask twice than lose your way once.
I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap It is easier to stay out than get out.

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers. Think of yourself as a toy train. All toy trains de-rail now and then. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back on track. "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go." -T.S. Eliot "Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast." -- Tom Peters

What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail? ~Robert H. Schuller Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down. ~Ray Bradbury Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-itsafers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.--Sir Cecil Beaton The galleries are full of critics. They play no ball, they fight no fights. They make no mistakes because they attempt nothing. Down in the arena are the doers. They make mistakes because they try many things. The man who makes no mistakes lacks boldness and the spirit of adventure. He is the one who never tries anything. His is the brake on the wheel of progress. And yet it cannot be truly said he makes no mistakes, because his biggest mistake is the very fact that he tries nothing, does nothing, except criticize those who do things.--Gen. David M. Shoup I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.--Kurt Vonnegut If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.--Nora Roberts

It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.--Sister Elizabeth Kenny Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.--Alan Alda You have to fail in order to practice being brave.--Mary Tyler Moore Take ... the path that runs along the cliff--that one, the one without any guardrails. Take that path, and know the exhilaration of the ride and the pride you feel when you reach the end will inspire you to take that path again and again. And that experience ... every day, will make you more fulfilled, more complete, and more alive.--Harry Beckwith (What Clients Love: A Field Guide to Growing Your Business) Take risks ... be willing to put your mind and your spirit, your time and your energy, your stomach and your emotions on the line. To search for a safe place, to search for an end to a rainbow, is to search for a place that you will hate once you find it. The soul must be nourished along with the bank account and the resume. The best nourishment for any soul is to create your own risks.--Jim Lehrer
Another fresh new year is here . . . Another year to live! To banish worry, doubt, and fear, To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me To live each day with zest . . . To daily grow and try to be My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity Once more to right some wrongs, To pray for peace, to plant a tree, And sing more joyful songs!

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential. - Ellen Goodman
Ring out the old. Invite in the new. As we say goodbye to one year, we can look forward to the hope and possibilities of another one. ""Years will pass..memories would last. Cherish the good ones and ignore what gives pain..Celebrate New Year in a cheerful spirit, by not regretting or feeling proud of gains." " By - Priyanka Gulati

Being happy is a now experience, not an if only or a when I experience.

You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes you can steer yourself in any direction you

choose. Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way.
Dr. Seuss

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. - Oprah Winfrey

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of good luck. Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness, and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without the small tests, whatever they may be, life would be like a smoothly paved straight, flat road to nowhere. It would be safe and comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless.
Sometimes when things are falling apart, they are just falling into place. Anonymous People who urge you to be realistic generally want you to accept their version of reality. Anonymous

From Doug Firebaugh: Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow. From Zig Ziglar: The definition of success is getting many of the things money can buy and all the things money cant buy.

17 RULES TO LIVE BY
1. Count your blessings. Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you, the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play and you will finally be able to move forward toward the life that God intended for you...with grace, strength, courage and confidence. 2. Today, and every day, deliver more than you are getting paid to do. The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting out more than is

expected in all that you do. Make yourself so valuable in your work that eventually you will become indispensable. Exercise your privilege to go the extra miles, and enjoy all the rewards you receive. You deserve them! 3. Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come. 4. Always reward your long hours of labor and toil in the very best way, surrounded by your family. Nurture their love carefully, remembering that your children need models, not critics, and your own progress will hasten when you constantly strive to present your best side to your children. And even if you have failed at all else in the eyes of the world, if you have a loving family, you are a success. 5. Build this day on a foundation of pleasant thoughts. Never fret at any imperfections that you fear may impede your progress. Remind yourself, as often as necessary, that you are a creature of God and have the power to achieve any dream by lifting up your thoughts. You can fly when you decide that you can. Never consider defeat again. Let the vision in your heart be in your life's blueprint. Smile! 6. Let your actions always speak for you, but be forever on guard against the terrible traps of false pride and conceit that can halt your progress. The next time you are tempted to boast, just place your fist in a full pail of water, and when you remove it, the hole remaining will give you a correct measure of your importance. 7. Each day is a special gift from God, and while life may not always be fair, you must never allow the pains, hurdles, and handicaps of the moment to poison your attitude and plans for yourself and your future. You can never win when you wear the ugly cloak of self-pity, and the sour sound of whining will certainly frighten away any opportunity for success. Never again. There is a better way. 8. Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busywork. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!

9. Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find "tomorrow" on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday's defeats, and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, "If I had my life to live over again..." Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day! 10. Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. 11. Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat of the moment. Banish tension and concern and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. Never take yourself too seriously. 12. Never neglect the little things. Never skimp on that extra effort, that additional few minutes, that soft word of praise or thanks, that delivery of the very best that you can do. It does not matter what others think, it is of prime importance, however, what you think about you. You can never do your best, which should always be your trademark, if you are cutting corners and shirking responsibilities. You are special. Act it. Never neglect the little things. 13. Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail. 14. You will achieve your grand dream, a day at a time, so set goals for each day - not long and difficult projects, but chores that will take you, step by step, toward your rainbow. Write them down, if you must, but limit your list so that you won't have to drag today's undone matters into tomorrow. Remember that you cannot build your pyramid in twenty-four hours. Be patient. Never allow your day to become so cluttered that you neglect your most important goal - to do the best you can, enjoy this day and rest satisfied with what you have accomplished.

15. Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealousy and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can pull it to pieces. 16. Search for the seed of good in every adversity. Master that principle and you will own a precious shield that will guard you well through all the darkest valleys you must traverse. Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well, when they cannot be discerned from the mountaintop. So will you learn things in adversity that you would never have discovered without trouble. There is always a seed of good. Find it and prosper. 17. Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. -- Og Mandino -- From A Better Way to Live Seems like I've been here before, can't remember when I get this funny feeling, we'll be together again; No straight lines make up my life, all my roads have bends; No clearcut beginnings; so far, no dead ends.--Tom Chapin ("Circles")